on the broadcast tonight, there's been a dramatic rescue in the hostage crisis in alabama. a 5-year-old boy kidnapped and held underground for days is finally free tonight. we'll go live to the scene. the blame game under way this evening in new orleans with 1 billion people watching around the globe. who or what turned out the lights at the super bowl? she's a survivor. they tried to kill her for speaking o on the rights of young women. tonight, for the first time, we hear from the brave teenager who has inspired so many. and the amazing discovery in the parking lot in great britain and a twist right out of shakespeare. they have found king richard iii, and an ancient mystery has finally been solved. "nightly news" begins now.

from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. good evening. an awful drama has now come to an end tonight in the state of alabama. for the past seven days, a grown man has held a 5-year-old boy in a bunker he built underground. it started when he stormed a local school bus and killed the driver. that started a long standoff, a delicate negotiation with this deeply troubled man who is now dead. late today, when the fbi became troubled by his temperament, that's when they decided to storm the bunker and save the boy. nbc's gabe gutierrez has been covering at the scene for us. he's with us from there tonight. gabe, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. there's still a lot we don't know about how this standoff finally ended. but for the family of the 5-year-old hostage and the dozens of local and federal law enforcement who worked so hard to rescue him, the important thing is, it's over.

seven days after he was abducted from his school bus, a 5-year-old hostage was freed by police, his captor dead, and a delicate standoff, final over. >> at approximately 3:12 this afternoon, fbi agents safely recovered the child who has been held hostage for nearly a week. >> reporter: police say 56-year-old jimly lee dykes boarded a stopped school bus last tuesday demanding two children. when the bus driver, charles poland objected, dykes killed him, and grabbed ethan, who has a mild form of autism. >> i started our discussion with mr. dykes. he feels like he has a story that's important to him, although it's very complex. >> reporter: ethan had been held captive in an underground bunker beneath dykes' property, stocked full of supplies, including blankets and a heater. dykes had allowed negotiators to drop crackers, toys and coloring books down a ventilation pipe.

while police used cameras mounted on a small unmanned aircraft to keep an eye on the bunker site, s.w.a.t. teams on the ground were ready to move. police were assuming dykes was watching television coverage of the crime and kept their comments to reporters short. then, late this afternoon, an apparent blast was heard at the bunker site. >> within the past 24 hours, negotiations deteriorated. and mr. dykes was observed -- was observed holding a gun. at this point, fbi agents fearing the child was in imminent danger, entered the bunker and rescued the child. the child appears physically unharmed and is being treated at a local hospital. >> reporter: not much is known about the suspect. we know he was a retired trucker, a decorated vietnam veteran and neighbors say he harbored strong anti-government feelings. but the motivation for kidnapping a 5-year-old boy, brian, remains a mystery. >> gabe gutierrez at the scene,

midland city, alabama tonight. gabe, thanks. with that situation resolved, now to the event that focused so much of the nation's attention last night. and according to the early nielson numbers, an average of 108 million tv viewers in the u.s. tuned in for all or part of the game last night, ranking it the third-most watched tv event of all-time. the host city of new orleans needed a great outing, and they were having one right up until the lights went out. tonight, the questions there continue, including how it is the world's leading super power can't keep the lights on during a football game. nbc's janet shamlian was there for all of it. she joins us tonight from new orleans. janet, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. we were in the superdome when the lights went out and tonight officials don't have much more information than they did in the moments after it happened last night. there are questions about how with all the planning and precautions something like this could have gone wrong. >> half the power in new orleans

stadium, the superdome here, is out. >> reporter: call it the blackout bowl. the third quarter had just started when at least half the stadium plunged into darkness. >> please remain in your seats. service will be restored momentarily. >> reporter: this is what it looked like in many areas. a few signs illuminated. otherwise, pitch-black. >> well, i don't really know exactly can what's going on, so we're going to stay by the door, be close to an exit, but otherwise stay calm. >> reporter: as the outage continued, anxiety from some, remembering when hurricane katrina hit, ripping apart the roof with thousands stranded inside. >> it was really scary when the lights went out, especially me being here from new orleans, i never want to say a whole building of lights go out ever again. >> reporter: finally, after 34 minutes, there was light and play resumed. >> one, two, three, four! >> reporter: the blackout came minutes after beyonce's high-wattage show. but the nfl says that production ran on its own generator.

>> i know it's been out there to say that beyonce's halftime show had something to do with it. that is not the case from anything we have at this point. >> reporter: so how did it happen? stadium officials say a substation detected an abnormality and automatically cut power. but they know little beyond that. >> because of the blackout, because the game pressed into prime time, people checked to see if the game was over and it wasn't, so they stayed and watched. >> reporter: the outage lit up social media. at one point, 4,000 tweets a second. 108 million viewers, making it the third-most watched program ever. as the super bowl signs came down today, the big easy has its sight set on hosting again in 2018. >> it will end up being something funny, it will end up being something we remember. but as far as a black mark to keep people from this kind of convenience in this weather? >> reporter: first part, the nfl says that what happened here, the outage, will not impact future super bowl bids. and as if on cue, the rain and

storms have moved in as some 150,000 visitors are starting to leave the city. brian? >> the city not for the faint of heart, but worth it when you're there. janet shamlian at the superdome in new orleans. janet, thanks. if you bought gas over the weekend or today as the workweek got under way, then you have seen what has happened to the price of gas. aaa tells us the national average for regular is now $3.52 a gallon. that's up 17 cents in a week's time. 22 cents just in a month. and they are paying a whole lot more in a lot of states, including new york, california, where the price is close to $4 a gallon again. the question is, what are the oil companies telling us is the reason for it this time? our report tonight from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: we've all heard about pain at the pump, but the pain is suddenly starting to bite. >> these higher gas prices definitely affect the way i budget my money. where i choose to live. and how i choose to spend my leisurely time.

>> more conscious about the distance i'm driving, or carpooling a lot more also. >> reporter: why the sudden jump? drivers in the midwest have paid the price for an explosion and fire that partially shut down a refinery near toledo. but it's more than that. cnbc's sharon epperson says the spring rally in gas prices has come early this year. >> we have refineries down in a number of locations. oil prices are rising. and then we have a supply shortage in california, and so inventories are being diverted from elsewhere in the country to help out with that. >> reporter: and the price hikes really hit home. the average american household spent $2,900 on gas in 2012, just under 4% of their income before taxes. with the exception of 2008, that was the highest in nearly 30 years. so could we pay even more in 2013? gas prices are already at their highest ever for early february. >> i think this is just a temporary blip that we see in prices. 2013, in my book, still expected to be lower, at least for a

yearly average than what we saw in 2012. >> reporter: other factors at play, a weaker dollar can inflate oil prices and they very often follow economic indicators as the stock market. as goes the dow, so often go the prices at the pump. tom costello, nbc news, washington. president obama took his bush for tougher gun control laws to minneapolis today. a city they used to call murder-apolis back in the '90s before an aggressive push there to curb gun violence brought the homicide rate down with juvenile violent crime rates also dropping sharply. the president is calling on congress to pass that expansion of background checks, limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines and a ban on new assault weapons. a lot of americans have read the book called "american sniper," written by former navy s.e.a.l. chris kyle, often referred to as america's best and deadliest sniper during his war-time deployments as a

overseas. chris kyle was killed this weekend in texas after he and a friend took a troubled fellow marine veteran for an outing at a shooting range. we get the story tonight from nbc's jim miklaszewski. >> reporter: as a navy s.e.a.l. sniper in iraq, chris kyle was so feared, the enemy called him the devil of vermonty and put an $80,000 on his head. >> tragically, it was back home >> it gave me pride knowing i put fear in the mind of the terrorists and made them fearful of me. >> tragically, it was back home where kyle and a friend were shot and killed. the suspect is a 25-year-old marine reservist, eddie ray roth. without warning, routh allegedly shot the two victims with a semiautomatic handgun. he's in custody facing two charges of capital murder. sheriff tommy bryant told reporters, routh turned on his guards overnight. >> he became aggressive, and they believed he was about to assault them so they tased him and put him in restraint. >> reporter: routh served two tours in iraq. once back home, his family reportedly feared he was

suffering ptsd, post traumatic stress, and asked chris kyle for help. >> some people are definitely coming back with ptsd. and i want to try to figure out everything i can do, possibly, to help those guys. >> reporter: kyle felt helping veterans was his duty. and would take troubled veterans to a shooting range to blow off steam. that's apparently what kyle had in mind when he was shot and killed. it's called exposure therapy, where patients gradually confront their demons, but it can be dangerous. even deadly. >> it's concerning that you would have someone exposed to weapons who may, in fact, be struggling with post traumatic stress, and, in fact, the weapon itself, for all we know, could be a trigger. >> reporter: the entire u.s. military is struggling with serious mental health issues. suicide rates at all-time highs. and the veterans' affairs reports that 22 veterans a day are committing suicide, brian. >> jim miklaszewski on duty for us at the pentagon tonight. jim, thanks.

it was a busy first day on the job for the new secretary of state, john kerry. and it started with a rousing welcome from hundreds of employees at the state department, and a nod to his predecessors. >> here's the big question before the country and the world and the state department after the last eight years. can a man actually run the state department? i don't know. as the saying goes, i have big heels to fill. >> john kerry, referencing hillary clinton and condoleezza rice. before that, colin powell had the job. kerry is the first white man to hold the job of secretary of state since warren christopher 16 years ago. now to the 15-year-old girl who became a global inspiration after she survived an assassination attempt by the taliban in pakistan, because she spoke out for the rights of young women. her name, malala, now being mentioned for the nobel peace prize. and tonight we're hearing from

her for the first time since her remarkable recovery. our report from nbc's keir simmons in london. >> today you can see that i'm alive. i can speak. i can see you. i can see everyone. and i'm getting better day by day. >> reporter: malala yousafzai's words on camera were to thank others. >> because all the people, men, women, children, all of them have prayed for me. and because of these prayers, god has given me this new life. >> reporter: she almost died. shot in the head last october by islamic extremists, because she fought for the right of young women to have an education. on saturday, she walked to the operating room. for five more hours of surgery. doctors implanted a titanium plate and a sophisticated hearing aid, repairing where the bullet smashed her skull and left her deaf in one ear. 24 hours later, malala was talking again.

>> i can also walk a little bit. i can talk. and i'm feeling better. and it doesn't seem that i had a very big operation. >> reporter: other patients might have complained. malala stayed focused. >> the thing is that my mission is the same, to help people. and i would do that. >> reporter: the medical team has grown close to malala. >> i'm inspired from the doctors and nurses. they are like my mother and father. >> reporter: malala will stay here in britain for at least another year. they're finding a place for a local school for a young woman whose passion is education for all. >> this is the second life, this is the new life. and i want to serve the people. >> reporter: she is recovering, and more determined than ever. keir simmons, nbc news, birmingham, england. and when we come back, one of the world's great enduring mysteries has been solved, and of all places, a parking lot. and there's so much else to talk about from last night, like the women who were the show-stoppers and the

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let's be honest here. it was pretty much inevitable. wherever americans gathered on this monday morning, eventually the subject got around to what commercials did you like from last night. there was a lot to take in last night. not including the partial blackout. but beginning with the power on stage. in a sport with only men on the field, the women set the tone, from jennifer hudson's emotional appearance with the sandy hook elementary children's choir. ♪ >> reporter: to alicia keys' singing of the anthem. ♪ brave >> reporter: to beyonce's high-wattage spectacular performance at halftime. >> ladies and gentlemen. >> reporter: then there was the game that aired, and the fact that the power failure and the momentum shift it caused almost

tilted the outcome on the field toward the 49ers. then there were the commercials. >> god worked hard on his planned paradise and said i need a caretaker. so god made a farmer. >> reporter: it was a spot for dodge ram trucks but thanks to the voice of the late great paul harvey, it touched a lot of people. other spots came closer to toying with our delicate emotions like oprah's voice over the returning soldiers and the clydesdale who never forgot where he came from. there was amy poehler at best buy. the space babies. the talking squirrels. the vw jamaica accent guy. the elaborate coca cola chase. and the senior citizens on a wild night that ends up at a tattoo parlor and taco bell. the spot that got slammed the most, especially by viewers with young kids, was the kiss. while hyundai was able to make the grotesque funny in their spot. all about the vehicles you can find yourself behind on the road. on social media this day after,

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rosa parks was born 100 years ago today. and today her birthday was referred to correctly as national day of courage. the postal service has issued a new stamp in her memory. and today at the henry ford museum in dearborn, michigan where the famous bus is kept, visitors were allowed to take a seat where rosa parks made history. at a new york synagogue, ed koch was remembered as the quintessential new york mayor. it was an emotional service, especially during the remarks of the current mayor, michael bloomberg, who along the way mentioned koch's choice to be buried at trinity cemetery in upper manhattan.

think about it, he said, a polish jew in a largely dominican neighborhood. what could be more new york or more ed koch? they carried the casket out of the church to the tune of the sinatra classic, "new york, new york." lavonne pepper davis died, the inspiration for the gina davis character in "a league of their own," a movie that taught us all, there is no crying in baseball. pepper, as they called her on the field during her ten-year baseball career, was 88 years old. here's a happy sight. an important viewer of ours, 41 former president george h.w. bush, looking tanned and fit and natty out to dinner in houston, texas. he had a lot of people worried about him during his 47 days in the hospital, including a dicey stretch in the icu, all due to an illness that is now clearly behind him. when we come back, the remains of the day. a 500-year-old mystery finally solved.

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anything to secure his place on the throne. he died in battle more than 500 years ago but now his remains have been positively identified, found, if you can believe it, buried under a parking lot in leicester, about 100 miles north of london. the story from nbc's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: the unearthing of lost kings does not happen every day. not even in england. >> richard iii, the last monarch of england, has been found. >> reporter: richard iii was dug up in an unlikely place. a parking lot in leicester. an ignoble and for the 15th century nobleman, but the bones don't lie. the right age, the spine twisted by the scoliosis the king suffered and with eight head wounds from the battlefield. the dna links to very distant relatives of richard iii. the king who reigned for only two years but who was so cruel, shakespeare couldn't resist creating his own version. >> now he's the winter of our discontent.

>> reporter: played by some great actors. >> my kingdom for a horse! >> reporter: in the play, richard iii kills his two nephews, and anyone else who gets in the way of the throne. >> if not to heaven, then hand-in-hand to hell. >> reporter: kevin space's richard iii drew packed crowds. at brooklyn's academy of music. a pretty murderous, brutal guy. >> completely. and totally. and obviously a very colorful character for william shakespeare to write about in dramatic form. >> reporter: but historians suspect shakespeare's richard iii may not be historically accurate. bones could tell a different story. >> i think this could be the moment where richard iii's reputation actually turns. this could be the moment where we look at his achievements and the positive aspects of richard iii and don't just see him as one of the old dark ages kings. >> either way, richard iii's bones will be reburied in a cathedral. even if he did kill his nephews, a parking lot is no place for a king.

stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. that is our broadcast this monday night. as we start a new week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. back here tomorrow evening.